Prosecutors seek life in jail for Aussie drug suspect
Wahjoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar
Denpasar prosecutors demanded on Thursday that an Australian woman be jailed for life for attempting to smuggle a large quantity of marijuana onto the resort island of Bali.
The demand, which came after intense diplomatic pressure from the Australian government, was less than the death penalty the prosecutors could have sought.
Prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu, who read out the demand, said that defendant Schapelle Leigh Corby had without doubt violated the law on narcotics and must be punished accordingly.
The 27-year-old defendant was arrested in October after customs officers at Denpasar airport found 4.1 kilograms of marijuana in her unlocked bodyboard bag during a routine X-ray. She had just arrived on a flight from Brisbane via Sydney.
"We demand the Denpasar District Court declare the defendant guilty of importing class one narcotics into Indonesian territory," said prosecutor Wiswantanu.
Besides the life sentence, the prosecutors also demanded Corby be fined Rp 100 million (US$10,460).
The former beauty student wept as the demand was translated into English. She repeatedly claimed the trial was unfair, while hugging her lawyers and sister Mercedes, who attended the hearing with Corby's friends and other relatives.
Earlier, Corby claimed she was unfit to appear in court, at which two hearings were postponed.
The case has grabbed the headlines in the Australian media and, in an unprecedented move, the Australian appealed to the Indonesian court not to seek the death penalty. It has also requested that, if convicted, Corby be allowed to serve her prison sentence in Australia. Asked by local journalists why prosecutors sought only a life sentence, prosecutor Wiswantanu remained silent and walked away.
The trial was adjourned until next week to hear the defense's response.
In a separate development, a senior police officer said on the same day that Bali Police had named nine Australian citizens suspects for allegedly smuggling 10.5 kilograms of heroin into Bali. The nine people were arrested on Sunday.
Bali Police narcotics chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Bambang Sugiharto said the nine people had been named suspects after questioning. Bambang quoted several suspects as saying that the suspects had agreed to take the drug out of Bali only after pressure from Andrew Chan, whom they claimed called the shots.
They claimed that Chan would kill them and their families if they refused to take the drug from Bali to Sydney, Australia. Chan was one of the nine arrested on Sunday.
Bambang said that the police would continue to investigate the case further.